Friends of the Q:
That the CB&Q planned to build further west
is not too surprising. Every railroad that looked to protect itself
planned to build further west. But from a June 16, 1890 edition of the
Anaconda, Montana, Standard comes this article about plans of the
day.
It is
thought that a move looking very much as if the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy were preparing to extend its line to Butte and the coast has been
inaugurated.
Yesterday articles of
incorporation of the Butte City, National Park & Southeastern railway
company were filed for record with the county recorder. According to these
articles the object of the company is to construct and operate a railway, the
termini of which are to be in Silver Bow, Jefferson, Beaverhead, Madison,
Gallatin and Lewis and Clarke counties. The general route of the road is set
out as follows: From Butte southeasterly by way of Blacktail, Deer creek, the
Pipestone pass and Little Pipestone creek to the Jefferson river valley in Jefferson county; thence by
way of Jefferson and Ruby valleys and Alder gulch or some other practicable
route to the Madison river valley near the town of Ennis; thence in a
southerly direction through the Madison river valley to the summit of the
Rocky mountains at or near Reynold's Pass on the southerly boundary of
Montana. Branches are to be built from a point on the above line in the
Madison valley southeasterly through the Madison basin to the western boundary
of Yellowstone Park; also from a point in the Jefferson valley northerly by
way of the Three Forks in Gallatin county to Helena in Lewis and Clarke
county; also from Three Forks to Bozeman; also from some point in the
Jefferson valley southerly to Dillon in Beaverhead county. The capital stock
of this corporation is to be $1,000,000 divided into 10,000 shares. The
principal place of business is to be in Butte where most of the directors will
reside. The incorporators are Charles S. Warren, Wallace M. C. White, H. L.
Frank, Lee Mantel, N. C. Ray, George W. Irvine, E. J. Carter, L. C. Trent and
Joseph R. Clark. It is understood that the C. B. & Q. system is backing
these gentlemen in their enterprise, that corporation having long been
desirous of securing direct connection with Butte and surrounding country. It is being
pushed at this time in order to secure the Pipestone pass which is now the
only one leading into this city that is unoccupied. Mr. M. C. White was for a
number of years among the leading
officials of the Q system and his presence at this time is especially
significant. A plat of the promised route has been filed with the secretary of
the
interior at
Washington.
The fact that the Burlington
is now extending its Northwestern line into the region southeast of here,
being already engaged in grading a line across
the Black Hills, gives some color to the suggestion that the new company is
backed by that powerful corporation. [There is one more sentence in the
article, but it not readable.]
Chuck
Hatler
KC
MO